Braised Octopus

I am so excited about my new full-sized kitchen! I’ve moved into a pre-War apartment in Brooklyn, and despite giving up space everywhere else, we have the largest kitchen I’ve ever had. And a gas stove! Also, local grocery stores carry awesome foods like octopus. I am one happy home cook.

After a bit of research, I decided to make braised octopus and paella. The paella was a pretty standard recipe, so I am not going to talk much about it. I will say that paella is one of the dishes that I always thought would mark me as a “real cook,” so making a successful version of it makes me feel very accomplished. It was good.

This was my first time making octopus too. I bought three small octopus at the local grocery store, totally around 6 pounds all together. Octopus, unlike squid, live to be pretty old, and their meat can get really tough, as such, they require some pretty intense prep. First, I boiled them for 8 minutes in unsalted water.

While they boiled, I prepped my braised pot. I used my smaller dutch oven, and based my flavor profile on the Spanish flavors in paella – sweet paprika, pepper, lime & lemon, garlic cloves, and a bay leaf.

It looked so pretty! I admit it was a little weird to watch the octopus boil, because the tentacles moved around like it was still alive. I’m nor generally squeamish about my food having been alive… but that was a little… mmmm… weird.

I lifted each one out with tongs and nestled them on top of the braising ingredients. The octopus braised at 200 degrees for around five hours.

Meanwhile, I made the paella. Once the octopus was done (I could easily stick a fork in it), I tossed it with salt, pepper, paprika, lemon juice, olive oil, and garlic (all made into a paste in the food processor). I topped the paella with the octopus. It was delicious!